World of Tanks creator Wargaming are trying an experiment. They've taken the rights to the Total Annihilation series . They've also taken Gas Powered Games and its founder Chris Taylor, the developer of Supreme Commander, Dungeon Seige and Total Annihilation. Now they get to sit back and watch what happens. A fair guess would be, "more Total Annihilation", which is something Taylor recently hinted at in an English podcast interview with German site CnC-Inside.de . In it, he says things like "I don't even need to be coy", before being excruciatingly coy about his current project.
"That nerd probably won't come back to life on Supreme Commander, because that IP is no longer owned by me," Taylor admitted. He's referring to a PC Gamer interview from 2009 , in which he described the simplification of Supreme Commander 2's economy by saying, "the nerd in me died a little bit."
"It's Square Enix's property, so they'll have to decide if that nerd comes back to life," Taylor continues. "In so far as other RTS properties that I am capable of working on - and I think you know what I'm talking about, I don't even need to be coy - I think that nerd is alive and well." Remember, the nerd in question is a metaphor for Taylor's love of deep, complex strategy systems. Add that to the phrases "RTS properties", "I am capable of working on" and "I think you know what I'm talking about", and I think we know what he's talking about.
(A hint: he's talking about a follow up to Total Annihilation.)
Of course, this isn't an announcement by any means. In fact, when pressed for confirmation later in the interview, he returned to maximum coyness. "I can't, I won't, I shouldn't. It's just not an area I'm ready to talk about yet. But you can use your imagination, even though you're not on the project. You're welcome to use your imagination, your imagination will serve you well in this case."
Weirdly, I am imagining a follow up to Total Annihilation.
CnC-Inside.de's full interview is worth a listen. It's packed full of Taylor's thoughts on the making of his games, the creation of Gas Powered, and their future with Wargaming. Head here to listen , and here to see a summary .
